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Hi everyone,
My wife and I had our green card interview yesterday in Long Island City, NY. Everything went really well -- the Immigration Officer didn't seem to question at any point the legitimacy of our marriage, didn't ask any other suspicious questions, and we offered plenty of evidence of our relationship and marriage (wedding photos, joint lease, joint bank accounts, home insurance, utility bill on both names). So towards the end we were pretty sure my green card would be approved on the spot. But he just handed us a letter that said our file was being held for further review, that we would be notified by mail of the decision, and we should wait 60 days before inquiring about the case status. He didn't say anything else. We weren't asked for any further evidence and the box for 'background checks' was not checked on the letter. The box that was checked just said: 'your file is being held for further review before a decision can be made'.
Our lawyer told us not to worry about it, that the interview went perfectly, and we should have patience. But as you can imagine, we were a bit deflated by how the interview ended, as we were hoping for my passport to be stamped on the spot (this is what we thought happened after successful green card interviews) and the officer didn't say anything at all at the end besides handing us that letter. Can anyone tell me if this is normal for green card applications that get approved? Is this the new standard procedure, at least in New York? How long should we expect to wait until we get the approval notice by mail, and then the GC? Thank you very much!
My wife and I had our green card interview yesterday in Long Island City, NY. Everything went really well -- the Immigration Officer didn't seem to question at any point the legitimacy of our marriage, didn't ask any other suspicious questions, and we offered plenty of evidence of our relationship and marriage (wedding photos, joint lease, joint bank accounts, home insurance, utility bill on both names). So towards the end we were pretty sure my green card would be approved on the spot. But he just handed us a letter that said our file was being held for further review, that we would be notified by mail of the decision, and we should wait 60 days before inquiring about the case status. He didn't say anything else. We weren't asked for any further evidence and the box for 'background checks' was not checked on the letter. The box that was checked just said: 'your file is being held for further review before a decision can be made'.
Our lawyer told us not to worry about it, that the interview went perfectly, and we should have patience. But as you can imagine, we were a bit deflated by how the interview ended, as we were hoping for my passport to be stamped on the spot (this is what we thought happened after successful green card interviews) and the officer didn't say anything at all at the end besides handing us that letter. Can anyone tell me if this is normal for green card applications that get approved? Is this the new standard procedure, at least in New York? How long should we expect to wait until we get the approval notice by mail, and then the GC? Thank you very much!
